Sharpshooter (2007)

Very well executed

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Note: even though I added a spoiler warning I think I won't spoil anything because the whole story is so predictable!This is total rubbish both in plot and in action. Either the writers were morons or they thought the audience will be morons (or maybe both). To begin with they mistook a spec ops agent for a hit-man: a hit-man might works alone, may collects enemies (of course only if someone finds out his identity!) and probably has a hard time retiring because of the said enemies and lack of friends. A special agent however is very unlikely to work alone, has more friends than enemies (the agency has his back) and so he can retire without fearing of getting assassinated. Also they might assassinate a foreign terrorist arms dealer on foreign soil, but they won't do that to their own citizen in their homeland - they have the police to arrest such people! (And if they decide to assassinate the delinquent anyway they would just send a frickin' drone - after all, drone warfare is legal even against American citizens in American soil!) As for the actions, they didn't do the slightest effort to make them the least bit believable! Even the very first scene is bull****: a single sniper to rescue a hostage from about 8 thugs in two vehicles! Even if they were really that incompetent that they can't fight back or escape, any of them could have killed the hostage as a last resort! Then there came those kind of action scenes I hate the most: getting the protagonist in a 200% certain death situation and then making him beat the odds - by plot holes, previously nonexistent superhuman capabilities and making the enemies doing blatant mistakes! From about the middle of the film it's full of these! (Escapeing in the boathouse, when his hands, tied in the back suddenly get tied in the front so he can cut the rope; clinging on the top of the escaping car and not getting shot nor falling, running with a shot leg like it was healthy, etc.) For me the most over the top was when Dillon, having run out of ammo (despite shooting very few times with that rifle!) turns his rifle into a bow and carves an arrow (with a f*ckin' stone!) in less than one minute and shoots the final boss in the heart from pretty far with dead accuracy, even though that "arrow" didn't even have feathers, it was just a pointed wooden rod! There are also some random stupid moments, like when the protagonist hesitates to kill his target despite doing that job for 20 years, just so that his target can mock him in a final line. And the worst part was an absolute stupid and unnecessary twist (it's real purpose is probably so that the movie can get longer), in which Dillon's friend suddenly turns evil - by wanting to quit and keep a large pile of money. And he also turns mean, to make sure the audience won't like him anymore! And he does that the cheapest way: by hitting his female colleague for no real reason! (The only cheaper thing would have been if he kicked a puppy!) What makes this stupid twist so outrageous is that Dillon, like a knight of honor refuses the offer to split the money and get away, which of course brakes out a new conflict, but in the end, after killing his old colleagues (and only friends), he keeps the loot anyway and escapes with the last survivor of the opposing band (the chick whom the "new bad guy" have hit).

I've seen only a long time ago such a bad, full of clichés movie. In fact I registered here only to be able to post that opinion. I couldn't even watch the movie until the end, it's so bad. Bad actor (totally unnatural), bad landscapes, bad gear (rifles and so on), tons of clichés (like jumping on the top of the car, to get the bad guys which are driving it or the agent. In other words, a movie made with really low budget. If you are able to push another button on the remote, do it, even if there are only news channels available. Even watching a boring stuff like "mating rituals in the bug world" would be a better alternative to this. Besides that, as outlined on this page, there are lots of mistakes which can be observed also but people which are not hunting them (I usually don't observe the mistakes). For example the point when Phillips is making the deal and the agent is caught: after catching him (it's dark night), beating him (still night) he is brought outside, to be killed (sunshine). My first impression was that the action continued next day, until I realized that the bad guy returned to the room where the deal was as if he returned after half of hour.

saw this movie on spike last night, action was pretty sub-par and pretty ridiculous (throwing a guy 10 feet when he is on the boat and the main character is fully submerged in water and when he gets shot he doesn't even limp until 20 minutes of running through the forest) i can deal with all of that because the movie obviously was garbage but the ending really bugged me the most. he could have split the money with flick (i think thats his name) but he said no because it wasn't right so then flick tried killing him for 45 minutes. then after flick was no longer a problem he just keeps the money and flies off with the chick that betrayed him. WHAT THE F**K?! i kept thinking "this cant happen, that is totally against the character of the guy" but maybe the writer wasn't creative enough to tie up that loose end in a way that actually made any sense. he was thinking about shooting her but then he decided to fly off to some island and keep the money. if the end was true to the character, he would have at least taken the girl in, turned in the money. the sheriff new he was a good guy so everything would have worked out perfectly.

This is a good film in a made for TV sort of way. James Remar plays the sharp shooter of the title and is very good in his role as the ex army man doing his job for the country. The action is good and the bad guys are OK if a bit boring. The film was made in Canada which makes a change from the same old shots of east Europe. Maro van pebbles pops up for a bit and may not be who he seems ? Bruce boxlter is only in the film for a little bit and was wasted in a small role just to get his name on the film as well. The Direction was good and the action was well handled with a bit of blood and some good deaths. Over all a good film and step up for this company of late as some of there other films have been very bad. You should keep an eye on the director as he has done well here and may well go on to better things.